Henry Moore’s sundial sculpture outside the Adler Planetarium, titled Man Enters the Cosmos, celebrates our nation’s space program. At the time the sculpture was created in 1980, NASA had already sent men to the moon and probes to Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Continue reading →

Comet 45P/HMP passes by Earth at dawn tomorrow If you find yourself up at dawn tomorrow, go ahead and look up into the dawn sky. Who knows? You might just catch a glimpse of Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova swinging past Earth on its way back … Continue reading →

I should be able to remember how this question came up. After all, The Eight-Year-Old just asked it last week. But I don’t. I’ve been watching videos of Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield brushing his teeth on the International Space Station all morning … Continue reading →

As you may have noticed, I’m reserving most of my words this week for my novel-in-progress. But I wanted to share with you this amazing photo of the Valentine Rose Nebula to ease us all into the weekend. The Five-Year-Old: … Continue reading →

The Four-Year-Old, decisively: “Gold.” Mother, a bit chagrined at how expensive her daughter’s tastes are already getting: “Why?” The Four-Year-Old: “Because it’s rare and it was cooked in a star that died long ago.” Mother surreptitiously Asks the iPhone and … Continue reading →

Day 2 and we’re still excited about the launch of the Mars Rover Curiosity here at Caterpickles Central. Especially since we found these cool videos of the launch on Engadget this morning. Take a peek. Now, if you’ll excuse me, … Continue reading →

Caterpickles Central is abuzz with news that NASA has just launched the largest Mars Rover yet. The Curiosity, a one-ton, six-wheeled, one-armed robotic explorer, set off for Mars from Cape Canaveral this morning (with a targeted assist from an unmanned … Continue reading →

Time is a bit short around Caterpickles Central this week, what with two major deadlines coming up on Friday, so I’m going to let The Four-Year-Old commandeer the blog for another story. Regularly scheduled book reviews will return next week. … Continue reading →